Medical Error Lawsuits Result from Lack of Transparency

Medical error lawsuits can help victims of medical malpractice understand how they were injured and seek recourse for these injuries.

Medical Error Lawsuits

According to the Washington
Post, researchers at Johns Hopkins estimate that medical errors kill251,000
Americans annually– or nearly 700 deaths a day- making it the third leading
cause of death in the US, claiming more lives every year than respiratory
disease, accidents, stroke, and Alzheimer’s. Furthermore, transparency is an
issue. Oftentimes the only way for patients to find out why and how a medical
error injured them or killed their loved one is through medical error lawsuits.

How Was This Number Found?

Martin Makary, a professor of surgery at the Johns Hopkins
University School of Medicine who led the research did a ‘comprehensive
analysis of four large studies, including ones by the Health and Human Services
Department’s Office of the Inspector General and the Agency for Healthcare
Research and Quality that took place between 2000 to 2008’.

Makary has said, “It boils down to people dying from the care that they receive rather than the disease for which they are seeking care.” Makary conducted this research with the goal of shedding more light on the problem of medical errors. Even the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who collect data about death through billing codes, don’t require doctors to report medical error related deaths.

Frederick van Pelt, a doctor who works for the Chartis
Group, estimates the number of severe injuries resulting from medical error is much
higher than the number of errors that result in death. “Some estimates would
put this number at 40 times the death rate,” he said.

For more information on how to handle medical error lawsuits, call us for a free, no-obligation consultation at (703) 291-6650.

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